


A Meta Analysis of Abuse and Neglect

by thicc_succ_for_a_bucc



Category: Naruto
Genre: Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Essay, Far too much swearing to be an academic essay, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Meta, Multi, Neglected Uzumaki Naruto, Sexual Abuse, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:15:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23645251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thicc_succ_for_a_bucc/pseuds/thicc_succ_for_a_bucc
Summary: Naruto’s childhood abuse is no secret to the audience. We been knew.But I want to go more into specifics to hopefully raise some questions about how much of an impact this has had on Naruto’s psychology and mental well-being, rather than the obvious. The obvious being: “I, [Naruto], search for Sasuke because he is the only other child (and adult) who has ever shown me any genuine care or concern in my life, that wasn’t a complete stalker or misled me in anyway”. I want to analyze Naruto’s drives and psychology under real-world parameters and data. Namely, I want to shit on everyone who ever took advantage of Naruto, or failed him in some (all) respects.PLEASE READ THE TAGS BEFORE DECIDING TO READ.
Relationships: Jiraiya & Uzumaki Naruto, Sarutobi Hiruzen & Uzumaki Naruto, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 12
Kudos: 95





	A Meta Analysis of Abuse and Neglect

**Author's Note:**

> Naruto Uzumaki was abused (and traumatized) by his mentors - welcome to my TEDtalk.

Naruto’s childhood abuse is no secret to the audience. We been knew. 

But I want to go more into specifics to hopefully raise some questions about how much of an impact this has had on Naruto’s psychology and mental well-being, rather than the obvious. The obvious being: “I, [Naruto], search for Sasuke because he is the only other child (and adult) who has ever shown me any genuine care or concern in my life, that wasn’t a complete stalker or misled me in anyway”. I want to analyze Naruto’s drives and psychology under real-world parameters and data. Namely, I want to shit on everyone who ever took advantage of Naruto, or failed him in some (all) respects.

On to this autism fuelled, glorified rant.

# Hiruzen Sarutobi's Involvement (Or Lack Thereof)

Let’s get this out of the way. I have a strong dislike for Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was old and useless, and he allowed Danzou and the council to manipulate and run all over him. So many terrible things happened under his watch that could have been prevented if anyone but him was Hokage. Hell, the Pervy Sage could have done a better job as Hokage. I am under the opinion that if he hadn’t ostracized and offered Tsunade no support, she wouldn’t have left the village. Literally the Uchihas wouldn’t have tried to start a coup if Tsunade was still in the village. No one fucks with Tsunade. I rest my case.

Continuing on, Sarutobi basically pumped and dumped Naruto into an orphanage, because he didn’t want to deal with him, for most of Naruto’s formative years. He was offered no support, and no thought was given to him until he reached academy age, and therefore useful. No one wants a demon baby, even one whose parents died to keep him (and the village) safe. In hindsight, if Namikazi Minato and Kushina Uzumaki knew how their child was going to be treated in their absence, they would have said “fuck it” and destroyed the village themselves, starting with Sarutobi.

Before the academy, Naruto had “bodyguards”, but it’s safe to say they didn’t do shit in regard to how Naruto was treated, as they were probably ordered not to interfere, by Sarutobi himself, because beating on civilians as a shinobi is frowned upon. Speaking of Sarutobi’s orders, the decree that no one could talk about the Nine Tailed Fox literally living rent free in Naruto was the stupidest fucking thing he could have done for Naruto. Did he literally want to create another Garaa? There is such a thing as affirmitive action, and then there is stupid and useless beauracy that does more harm than good. I don’t even know if I can give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.

On the general theme of abuse and neglect, let’s talk about the child prodigies. Hiruzen personally fucked up Kakashi Hatake, and Itachi Uchiha. He made them ANBU SO YOUNG, KNOWING THEY WERE ALREADY TRAUMATIZED BY THEIR FATHERS (one an abusive and pushy PTA MOM - that’s right, I’m calling Fugaku Uchiha a PTA mom, and another who left them all alone, the other whose father committed suicide).

# The Sad Existence of An Overworked Teacher; Or Iruka Didn’t Do Bad, He Just Couldn’t Do More

Iruka loved Naruto but was an overworked teacher who was probably not allowed to show favoritism. Naruto, who needed extra attention due to obvious ADHD and home issues, was not given the help he so needed, to be on par with the rest of his class. 

Naruto is, of course, smarter than people give him credit for. He was able to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu, on his own, and literally created his own jutsu, at 12. Granted it was the Sexy No Jutsu, but that shit took anatomical knowledge and the ability to copy facial features and you would have to have an extreme visual library to create as many different forms as he was able to do, eventually. But he still needed help to pass the graduation test. He shouldn’t have had to steal village secrets in order to pass. That was bullshit.

# Look What You Did. You Fucked Up a Perfectly Good Innocent Boy Is What You Did. Look At Him. He’s Got Trauma; Or More Succinctly, Pervy Sage Shouldn’t Be Allowed 500 Feet Around Children

*Cracks knuckles* Here is where I may lose a few people, but I feel it must be said: Jiraiya took advantage of Naruto financially, mentorally, and sexually. 

First, financially. When Naruto was 12 and had met Jiraiya for the first time, the Pervy Sage stole from him. All the money in the world Naruto had, all that he had saved up, to spend on brothels and women. This was not just a gross misuse of power, this set a precedent of more to come. This was foreshadowing.

Second, mentorally. Naruto was sent to Jiraiya for guidance, for training. Naruto had to fight tooth and nail for Jiraiya to get his head out of his ass to treat him seriously, and this wasn’t because he was Naruto and he had to prove he was serious. This was because Jiriya wanted to see him work for it, willfully and knowingly dangling his mentorship. I’m just going to say this: mentorship is short-hand for guardianship and care. They send you at 12 to an adult, and what that adult is supposed to teach you stays with you for life. In this case, Naruto’s mentor is his parent. And much like Naruto had to fight tooth and nail for the village to see him in his own right, he had to fight tooth and nail for Jiriyla’s guardianship.

Thirdly, sexually. Why I even have to say this is a mystery to me, and why I don’t see this brought up in fandom circles more astounds me, but. Needs must. I feel I must outline how much Jiriyla fucked up Naruto. Because he did. Extensively.

Jiriyla introduces Naruto to brothels and sex work. One one hand, there is nothing inherently wrong with sex work. I am sex work positive. But not in the presence of 12 year olds. Naruto was pushed into the pool too fast and too extremely, before he even figured out how to swim. 

He made naruto pose in skimpy outfits and devil costumes, in female form, in order for Jiriyla to continue training him. The mental gymnastics people go to push this under the rug is simply funny to me. Pervy Sage stans never seem to mention this when talking about him, and I can see why. Not very heroly, is it?

And finally, Naruto was made to proofread Jiriya’s manuscripts, which was entirely inappropriate for Naruto to do in the position that Jiriya held over him, mentorally or otherwise. And it just adds to the sexualizement of Naruto’s psyche.

This brings us to my analysis of the past and future.

# How This Manifests

Naruto was lonely and abandoned his entire childhood, and we see him obviously act out. His pranks, his mischief. But I would like to offer you another outlet we see. His Sexy No Jutsu. Think about it, it gets him noticed. People pay attention to him when he acts up, and that’s how he sees it. Acting up. But what he doesn’t realize is he’s a 12 year old boy changing himself into fully developed women and men look at this fully developed woman, lecherously, when it’s a 12 year old boy. This 12 year old boy is getting taken advantage of.

That’s one way to look at it. That’s one way to take it. But that’s not how I interpret it.

The way I interpret it, Naruto has already been exposed to things he shouldn’t have been exposed to, because he was neglected and abused his whole entire childhood. What’s a way to get adults to pay attention to you? If you’re sexy. We already know Naruto is manipulative, that he’s cunning: he got the drop on Sasuke as a child, and he won against Ebisu Sensei using the sexy no jutsu. There you have it. Even the Hokage gets excited by the jutsu, and he happens to see Naruto create it. No one took Naruto aside and said he didn’t have to debase himself like this. That a 12 year old boy didn’t have to change himself into a sexy female to win fights, or to get attention. And that’s the heart of the problem: THERE WAS NO ONE FOR NARUTO.

And finally, there is Naruto himself to look at. When Naruto was born, his mother and father died shortly after. So already, Naruto was not given the foundations of a normal upbringing. But there is a psychological basis for this as well. The “serve and return” interactions that occur between young children and adults who care for them actually affect the formation of neural connections and circuitry of the developing brain. For his entire childhood, Naruto was neglected. What do you think this has done to his developing brain? To answer that question, in contrast, if adult responses are unreliable, inappropriate, or simply absent; developing brain circuits can be disrupted, and subsequent learning and health can be impaired.

Chronic neglect is associated with a wider range of damage than active abuse, but it receives less attention in policy and practice. Naruto, growing up, received both. He was spit on, yelled at, beaten to get out of stores, and he grew up in a ninja orphanage with other orphaned children in the ninja world, who probably also had a lot of rage.

Some symptoms that Naruto shares with children who have had chronic neglect: cognitive delays, impairment in executive function and self regulation skills, and disruption to the body’s stress response. Let’s also go into the fact that he’s a carrier for the Nine Tailed Fox, so that also adds to the fact that Naruto’s childhood was less than squeaky clean in terms of normal childhood development. To go further, children who have suffered severe childhood neglect have had the ways in which the ways they develop and process information have been disrupted, thereby making them further susceptible to attentional, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral disorders. To add insult to injury, Naruto also has poor reading and writing skills.

SO...BACK TO MY MAIN POINT. Every adult in Naruto’s life that was supposed to help him, keep him safe, look after him, failed.

I am not including Kakashi Hatake in this list, because the same thing happened to him. That would be unfair of me to add Naruto’s hurt to that, when he was just as powerless to stop his own hurt.

_Le Fin_

**Author's Note:**

> if you got this far, you’re a trooper. thanks for reading and tell me what you think!


End file.
